The present invention relates generally to camper vehicles and pertains particularly to an expandable vehicle top that expands a compact vehicle compartment into a sleeping area and an adjacent standing area having adequate head room for standing.
Vehicles having over night sleeping accomodations are quite popular in many of the countries of the world. There are many types of vehicles having such sleeping accomodations.
One such vehicle includes van conversions which include the installation of sleeping accomodations within the van. The van may also include cooking and bathroom facilities. One drawback to such conversions is that for smaller vehicles, the floor area is limited to very narrow traffic ways due to the sleeping accomodations, such as bunks and the like. Head room is also generally restricted unless a top is adapted to rise, as in some installations. Other drawbacks include the fact that the vehicle has little utility outside of the specific camping adaptation.
Other camper constructions include camper shells or assemblies which are mounted on light trucks, such as pick up trucks. These campers are generally a fairly substantial structure that mount within the bed of the vehicle extending upward to give head room and forward over the cab of the vehicle to give additional sleeping and bunk space. Again, the vehicle has limitations as to the floor space, due to the bunks for sleeping. Additional drawbacks include the added weight to the vehicle because of the shell structure and top heavy nature of the structure due to its height.
Other sleeping accomodations exist such as in the form of suitcase like containers mounted on the top of automobile vehicles which are expandable into a tent structure extending over sleeping pads or mattresses contained within the container. These likewise have the drawback that there is no provision for cooking and bathing facilities and no floor area for standing and the like.
Accordingly, it is desirable that some camper sleep accomodating construction be available which overcomes the above problems of the prior art.